OTTOMAN ISTANBUL, 17TH CENTURY

In the late 16th Century looms producing such textiles with Christian motifs were associated with the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul. A very similar textile is recorded as having been given to the Cathedral of the Dormition by Tsar Ivan IV of Russia in 1583, (Hali Magazine, issue 116, no. 15, p. 125). Our textile is slightly more stylised than the example found in Russia and therefore it has been suggested that it is slightly later in date.